The Storyteller of Marrakesh by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya

An enigmatic pair of lovers arrives at Marrakesh’s Jemaa el Fna square, captivates merchants and onlookers, and mysteriously disappears.  Hassan the storyteller, whose brother is implicated in the crime, relates the event, while his listeners interrupt, giving their own memories and interpretations.  As the story progresses, fascinating details are revealed about the city of Marrakesh, its visitors and inhabitants.

Author Joydeep Roy Bhattacharya tells about the writing of the book in his interview here.

Caleb's Crossing / Geraldine Brooks.

Bethia Mayfield, a minister’s daughter on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, seizes opportunities to learn new things. She listens as her father instructs her brother in Latin and Greek, accompanies local herbalists and midwives, and furtively trades knowledge with her Wampanong Indian friend Caleb.  Life is hard in 17^th century colonial Massachussett. Teenage Bethia loses her parents and is indentured as a servant, accompanying her brother and Caleb to Boston where they prepare to study at Harvard College.   An independent spirit who chafes against the religious and domestic roles assigned to her, Bethia observes and supports the struggle of Caleb and other Native American students who are between two cultures.

A Land More Kind than Home, set in the hills of North Carolina, is a novel of suspense involving  two brothers,  hard times, tenuous family relationships and religious tension. Here author Wiley Cash discusses the inspiration for his first novel.

You can read more,  including, excerpts from the book at Wiley Cash’s website.

Clinical psychologist and MIT professor Sherry Turkle has studied the social and psychological effects of digital culture for over fifteen years.  In  Alone Together, the final volume in a trilogy beginning with The Second Self and continuing with Life on the Screen,  Turkle  investigates human reactions to interactive computer programs and robots, cautioning that robots are beginning  to replace human caregivers in responding  to  the  social and emotional needs of children, the disabled and the elderly. As a generation has grown up with cell phones, personal communications formerly made by phone and in person are now made online.  Paradoxically, as we are now more connected to the world, we are becoming isolated from others, avoiding the intimacy of face to face conversation.  Sherry Turkle discusses her research on TED:

In a village in India a daughter is born, a daughter is given away and a life is saved.  A daughter is adopted and raised in the United States. Later this daughter, Asha, returns to India to reconnect with her adopted family and to find her birth mother.  Writer Shilpi Somaya Gowda tells how she came to write Secret Daughter:

Summer Reading Program Celebration!

Children (Ages 0-12)

How to Participate ...

1. Sign up at your local library or online starting June 1

2. Achieve your goal by reading alone or with others. 

3. Only those items read between June 1 and July 31 will be eligible.

4. Read 15 books and celebrate your success by coming to the library to pick up your prize book and certificate starting June 16.

5. Read MORE, Earn MORE - receive exciting prizes when you read.

6. Claim all your prizes at the Summer Reading Celebration desk by August 31. 

Top 5 Reasons to enroll your child into our Summer Reading Celebration!

Summer Reading Prizes for Kids!!  

• Read 5 books to receive a dream big painting sheet.
• Read 10 books to color your own star craft
• Read 15 books to reach the program's reading goal and receive a prize book and certificate.
• Mystery Grab Bag prizes are awarded after every 5 books read once program goal is reached.

  4th annual Graphic Novel Contest! 

 Part of the Summer Reading Celebration.

Check our calendar page for other FREE activities to enjoy this summer!